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Here's a summary of the day's events:

• Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City in a major escalation of the country's war in Gaza, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

• It comes after he told Fox News that Israel intends to take full control of Gaza and hand it over to Arab forces to govern.

• Hamas has called the proposal "a blatant coup" against the negotiation process.

• Israel's opposition leader Yair Lapid has slammed the cabinet's approval and said "this is exactly what Hamas wanted".

• Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has urged Israel to "not go down this path".

• Hundreds of protesters in Jerusalem have blocked the streets, demanding an end to the war and the return of hostages.

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For more information, our Middle East correspondent Allyson Horn has written an explainer about Israel's plan to occupy Gaza City.

In the same interview with ABC News Channel, Omar Dajani questioned whether an Israeli "reoccupation" of Gaza City can deliver better outcomes than diplomacy.

"I think the question people are asking is whether an Israeli reoccupation of the Gaza Strip can succeed in releasing hostages to a greater extent than negotiations and a deal would, whether it would provide humanitarian relief, ... and then also whether it can lead toward the broader political horizon that's so crucial for bringing stabilisation and the security that it can bring both to Palestinians and to their Israeli neighbours."

Dajani labelled Israel's plans a "reoccupation" because "Israeli forces have been operating militarily there since they broke the ceasefire in March".

Palestinian-American professor Omar Dajani says a total elimination of Hamas is unrealistic, even if Israel occupies Gaza City.

"Internationally, what we have seen is that Arab states are calling upon Hamas to disarm and many Palestinians have lost confidence that it fully represents their interests," he told ABC News Channel.  

"But the fact of the matter is that it's not going to disappear from the scene politically, even if Israel reoccupies because it represents an important part of the Palestinian national consensus, and the commitment to resistance."

Instead, Dajani says Hamas must be "engaged and defamed", adding that efforts to eliminate Hamas entirely would be "ill-fated". 

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has slammed the cabinet's approval of a plan to take over Gaza City. 

In a statement posted to X, he said the decision is "a disaster that will lead to many more disasters".

"In complete contradiction to the opinion of the military and security ranks, without considering the erosion and exhaustion of the fighting forces, [Itamar] Ben-Gvir and [Bezalel] Smotrich dragged [Benjamin] Netanyahu into a move that will take months, lead to the death of the hostages, the killing of many soldiers, cost tens of billions to the Israeli taxpayer, and lead to a political collapse," a translation by Google Translate reads. 

"This is exactly what Hamas wanted: for Israel to be trapped in the field without a goal, without defining the picture of the day after, in a useless occupation that no one understands where it is leading."

Israel has repeatedly bombarded Gaza City and carried out numerous raids there, only to return to neighbourhoods as militants regrouped. 

A major ground operation there could displace thousands of people and further disrupt efforts to deliver food to the territory.

It's unclear how many people reside in the city, which was Gaza's largest before the war. 

Hundreds of thousands fled Gaza City under evacuation orders in the opening weeks of the war but many returned during a ceasefire at the start of this year.

"There is nothing left to occupy," said Maysaa al-Heila, who is living in a displacement camp. 

'There is no Gaza left."

Reporting by AP

Gaza City is really considered the heart of Gaza, so a military takeover will be highly significant, both symbolically and logistically.

I've been inside Gaza City before the war, while reporting from the Middle East.

It's usually a really vibrant area of Gaza that's densely populated, with lots of shops, cafes and restaurants, but it's been completely transformed by the war. 

The population there has become even more condensed, with estimates of hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians also packed into the area.

The question now is, where will those Palestinians go as Israeli troops advance?

Gaza City is made up of many small streets and alleyways, which means Israeli troops are likely to be engaged in guerrilla-style warfare fighting against Hamas gunmen there.

In other areas of Gaza, Israel has used air strikes to destroy large swathes of buildings and infrastructure and diminish Hamas's capabilities.

If this were to happen inside Gaza City, many Palestinians would see this as the destruction of the heart of Gaza. 

This major escalation by Israel is likely to exacerbate social tensions in Australia, Executive Council of Australian Jewry Alex Ryvchin warns. 

"We have seen for nearly two years now how events in the Middle East serve to inflame tensions and to drive on particularly the most extreme elements of the anti-Israel movement in this country," he told ABC News Channel. 

"We have seen the targeting of Jewish institutions, of galleries, of restaurants, of Jewish families and individuals." 

We're bringing you more information on Israel's agreed occupation of Gaza City. 

According to Netanyahu's office, the IDF will take over the city while "providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones".

It also outlined its five steps towards ending the war, including: 

1. Disarmament of Hamas

2. Return of all hostages - both living and dead 

3. Demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip 

4. Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip 

5. The existence of an alternative civilian government that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority

"An absolute majority of Cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan presented to the Cabinet would not achieve the defeat of Hamas or the return of the abductees," the statement adds. 

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has urged the Israeli government to abandon plans to occupy Gaza City and says doing so will be a violation of international law. 

“Australia calls on Israel to not go down this path, which will only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” she said in a statement. 

"Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international law.

"With international partners, Australia maintains our call for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and aid to flow unimpeded. 

"A two-state solution is the only pathway to secure an enduring peace – a Palestinian state and the State of Israel, living side-by-side in peace and security within internationally-recognised borders."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City.